Loudspeaker row: Raj Thackeray warns Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray again, says 'Do not test our patience'

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday warned Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the action against MNS workers on the loudspeaker issue. "After I appealed to all the countrymen to remove the loudspeakers from mosques, the Maharashtra state government is behaving as if it has become senseless. MNS workers were arrested on May 4, just before the movement to implement the decisions given by the Supreme Court of the country and the High Courts of various states. Preventive notices were issued by the police to 28,000 Maharashtra soldiers, thousands were deported and many were imprisoned," said Raj Thackeray in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister.

"Why not blow horns on mosques which create noise pollution and disturb the people! Over the past week, I have wondered how the state government is using police force to suppress the soldiers of Maharashtra. Has the state government or police ever carried out such an `arrest operation` to find weapons and terrorists hiding in mosques? Police are looking for our Sandeep Deshpande and many other workers," said the MNS chief.

Raj Thackeray said power is not permanent and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray`s power is not going to stay forever. He warned Chief Minister Thackeray not to test the patience of MNS. "Searching for Sandeep Deshpande and other activists are underway in such a way that these people have come from Pakistan. Who gave the order for these atrocities and harsh actions? This is not right. All Marathi brothers and sisters are seeing this. Do not test our patience," he said.

Raj Thackeray had held a rally in Aurangabad on May 1 and lambasted the Uddhav Thackeray government on the issue of loudspeakers. He had set a May 3 deadline for the removal of the loudspeakers from mosques. He had also threatened that "his party workers would play Hanuman Chalisa with double the volume of `Azaan` (Muslim prayers) in front of the mosques if the state government doesn`t act within the deadline".

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At the end of the deadline, numerous MNS workers were detained for allegedly trying to put up loudspeakers outside mosques to play Hanuman Chalisa. Notably, a court in Parli in Maharashtra`s Beed district has issued a non-bailable warrant against Raj Thackeray in a 2008 case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches. Earlier, on May 3, a Sangli court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Thackeray in the 2008 case.